New Hampshire will conduct a full hand recount of votes in both the Republican and Democratic primaries at the request of Republican candidate Albert Howard and Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich. Neither man is trying to claim he won, but rather is interested in the integrity of the election process.
Regarding Clinton:
Despite the difference in votes (which apparently wasn’t enough to make up another delegate), Clinton and Obama received the same number of delegates from the New Hampshire primary, 9. John Edwards received 4. However, there is controversy over the end result. The Diebold machines used in New Hampshire are apparently the same type hacked in Florida and Clinton won where Diebold machines were used which also happen to be largely urban area where they expected her to do well anyway. The percentage differences are being discussed all over blogs.
Even mainstream news sources like ABC are at least raising questions about how wrong the polls were, which showed Obama ahead by double digits. “Prof. Jon Krosnick of Stanford University has another argument: That the order of names on the New Hampshire ballot - in which, by random draw, Clinton was toward the top, Obama at the bottom - netted her about 3 percentage points more than she’d have gotten otherwise. That’s not enough to explain the gap in some of the polls, which presumably randomized candidate names, but it might hold part of the answer.” Clinton is saying nothing happened.
I can’t help but wonder if some of this has something to do with people’s honesty. It is one thing to say you’ll vote for someone in an anonymous phone poll, but quite another to actually vote for that person in the privacy of a voting both. I think we saw less of a descrepency in Iowa because you’re not in the privacy of the voting booth, but rather rasing your hand or standing with supporters for a candidate in front of your friends and neighbors. In the end, I think a comparison between caucus states and primary states may tell us more. Are people saying they would vote for Obama on the phone and yet not voting for him in the booth?
Regarding Paul:
There may also be issues with votes for Paul, particularly in Sutton. Several accounts put Paul’s votes in Sutton at 0, but people have come out saying that they voted for him in the area. The town of Sutton has apparently since confirmed that Paul recieved 31 votes, not 0.
A map from Politico of the New Hampshire results. Roll over each county to see a breakdown of number of votes and percentages for both Democrats and Republicans.
Politico also offers a function where you can learn about candidates and track polling data.
Find information on your state’s debates, campaign, and primary/caucus.
The US military is paying 70,000 insurgents in Iraq $10 a day not to be violent, costing Americans a quarter billion dollars a year.
In case you haven’t heard yet, Bill O’Reilly went after an Obama staffer who tried to get him to go back into the press area. This clip and interviews are from Fox Attacks, so not an unbiased source, but the coverage has been backed up by other sources as well. The clip also shows Fox’s previous claims about Obama..
Big pharmaceutical companies spend more on advertising than on research and development each year. Such funding issues tie directly into issues like the cost of health care and medication. It might be interesting to see where these companies’ funding of politicians with money through lobbyists falls in this scheme.
Pro-life protesters interrupted an Obama rally. He calmed the crowd saying “Let me just say this, though… Some people got organized to do that. That’s part of the American tradition we are proud of.”
Voters not pleased with Hillary Clinton are turned off by her message, not her gender.
Merrill Lynch is claiming the US is in a recession.
18% of Republicans and 15% of Democrats picked their candidates on election day in the New Hampshire primary.
Obama and McCain win in Doxville Notch.
2 precincts - 23 and 24 - caucus at our location, City High in Iowa City. As you can see from the pictures, it isn’t the easiest place to walk around in and it made for a chaotic night. There are 1,781 precincts total in Iowa.
We got there early to caucus and it is a good thing we did, given the number of people. They had to turn people away because the door closes at 7. Period. Being in the car in the parking lot does not count as being in line.
Some precincts count raised hands for supporters, but our precinct hands out little cards that you turn in to your candidate’s precinct captain. It was a lot easier. Each of the cards was numbered, so we were able to easily figure out how many people came through the doors. As we entered we were given a card, an agenda for the evening, and a survey from the party. The surveys asked for our name, email, occupation, phone number, birth date, zip code, ways we will help the party, what constituency caucuses we wanted to join, was there anyone we though should run for an office and why, what issues were of concern to us, and asked if we had considered running for any office.
They called everyone to order just after 6:30. It seems we have a county level committee on committees. We elected by the “ayes” that the person who opened the caucus, Joanne, should be the permanent caucus chair. Similarly, we approved the acting secretary, Ann, as the permanent caucus secretary.
We had 541 people at our caucus site for the Democrats, making it the largest caucus in the precinct’s history. The auditorium was packed. Caucus math told us that to be viable a candidate had to have 82 supporters (541 x 15% rounded up). All told, 220,000 Democrats turned out in Iowa and 115,000 Republicans.
We counted everyone up and each group sent a representative on to the stage to say how many supporters they had and give a one minute speech. As the count began my husband and I helped out by gathering and counting cards for Edwards with our precinct captain, Paul. Edwards had 107 supporters and was viable. Obama had 235 and was also viable. Hillary had just 71 supporters and was not viable after the first vote. The whole crowd seemed shocked. Richardson had 49, Biden had 38, Kucinich had 19, Dodd had 9, Gravel had no one, and there were 6 undecided. Then everyone could go off and try to persuade supporters for non-viable candidates and the undecideds to come to our side.
The final tallies put Edwards with 157 supporters, Clinton with 87, and Obama with 283. With the 8 delegates for our district this meant Clinton got 1, Edwards got 3, and Obama got 4. At this point the representative for each viable group signed on that they agreed with the distribution of delegates.
After that we had to call in the results to Des Moines. This was done over a cell phone by the caucus chair on stage. That was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while - someone trying to make a phone call and quiet down over 500 people. We were on hold for a while too. After that each group selected who would be their delegates to go to the county convention.
My husband and I were selected as two of the three delegates for Edwards, with Precinct Captain Paul as the 3rd. There we will support Edwards and send delegates to the congressional district level. That group then selects delegates for the state level and they select for the national level. The number of delegates per precinct is actually pre-set and then we just decide how to distribute them.
In terms of us being delegates, it means that we’ll go to represent Edwards’ supporters from our precinct to the county convention sometime between late February and mid-March. We’ll stand with other delegates to vote for Edwards and they’ll distribute the county delegates for the congressional district convention based on number of votes (as I understand it now).
As we were selecting delegates, many people left. After we were done with that selection process, about 99.5% of the people in the room were gone. We then voted up or down to pass on several platform issues on to the county-level party. Basically the caucus chair read it aloud and we all yelled “yay” or “nay.” I think everything passed unanimously. The issues were things like do we want to give funding to special education, do we want more funding for schools and less for that voucher nonsense, do we support Alzheimer’s research, etc. After that we adjourned and went home.
Also interesting is the fact that the Republican caucus last night worked very differently. You can find out more online.
Note: The numbers may not work exactly as some people chose to leave throughout the process. However, the original total still is the basis for the viable number which remains the same regardless of how many people leave.
As most of you have likely heard by now, there was a fire earlier in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (which, surprisingly, Cheney has an office in despite being his own branch of government). Since the news broke, I’ve simply been waiting for news of what was “accidentally” destroyed. Well, the list is out, according to a seemingly cheeky Daily Kos.
Confirmation that the 2004 Ohio Presidential election votes were manipulated.
Edwards has a new playlist.
A chance to bring the price of women’s birth control back down on college campuses.
On a humerous note, the folks at JibJab really did try to list all the presidential candidates in their 2007 video.
Giuliani Christmas ad draws, well, groans. In contrast, Edwards’ is much more somber and yet, much more a message of the love and faith associated with the holiday. All-in-all, if voters who claim they vote based on Christian values are serious, Edwards’ ad is much more about the “Reason for the Season.”
A piece on the Conservative Voice for Ron Paul.
Can Ron Paul win? The numbers may surprise you.
Ron Paul doesn’t believe in evolution.
Ron Paul’s top contributors.
Money raised for Ron Paul on December 16.
Top Contributors for Candidates from Open Secrets:
“The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization’s PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.”
Hillary Clinton - DLA Piper
Barack Obama - Goldman Sachs
John Edwards - ActBlue
Bill Richardson - State of New Mexico
Chris Dodd - SAC Capital Advisors
Joe Biden - Simmons Cooper LLC
Dennis Kucinich - Institute for Democracy Studies
Mike Gravel - Floor Surplus Inc.
Ron Paul - Google
Mitt Romney - Goldman Sachs
Rudy Giuliani - Ernst & Young
John McCain - Blank Rome LLP
Fred Thompson - Morgan Stanley
Tom Tancredo - Nussknacker Haus
Sam Brownback - Kock Industries
Mike Huckabee - Stephens Inc.
Duncan Hunter - Milliken and Co.
Alan Keyes - Headsight Inc
Chris Dodd plans to filibuster the FISA bill. You can make Suggestions several places online including: (1) Crooks and Liars; (2) FDL.
Accusations have emerged that Huckabee may not have actually finished his seminiary degree. Does this impact his abilities as a politician? No. However, it may impact his record with the religious right - not because he doesn’t have the degree, but because he may have lied about it numerous times in discussing his religious views. This link refers to the AlterNet article, but the story itself seems to have broken with the New York Times Magazine.
Reps. Robert Wexler (FL-19), Luis Gutierrez (IL-04) and Tammy Baldwin (WI-02) have called on the other members of the House Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney. You can read Wexler’s op-ed piece here and sign a petition supporting the move here.
Quotes from Republican leaders when Bill Clinton was president. Odd about the 180 some have pulled:
“You can support the troops but not the president.”–Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)
“If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy.” –Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush
GOP blocks Senate interrogation (torture) bill.
A critique of those “I’ll support any Democrat for any reason” through a commentary on not supporting Hillary Clinton.
A survivor of CIA “black sites” tells his story.
Halliburton and CNN refer to gang rape allegations as a “dispute.” I understand refering to such claims as “allegations” until they are proven, but gang rape is still gang rape. Jamie Leigh Jones alleges she was gang raped by other Halliburton subsidary employees, then thrown into a shipping container and held, denyed food, water, and medical care. Finally one of her guards loaned her a cell phone. She called her father, who called their Congressman, who had the State Department rescue her. No criminal charges were ever filed.
A glossary of US military torture euphamisms.
The Bush administration has urged a federal judge not to look into the destruction of CIA tapes. That seems like tampering.
Letterman goes up against O’Reilly. According to Bill O’Reilly “the world is all about oil.” They have a rather interesting debate about the war in Iraq. Letterman points out that an American victory is only worth it if it hasn’t made the situation in the Middle East.
Alternet asks “don’t we have a constitution, not a king?”
Fred Thompson will not be on the Delaware ballot as he failed to get 500 signatures supporting him.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D) voted against a House bill recognizing the importance of Christmas as a protest against the President’s veto of children’s health care.
